Episode I: The Apprentice
by Obi - Wannabe759
Summary: Daniel Fenn's parents have died in mysterious circumstances and he is on a mission to find the culprit and bring them to justice. On the way he runs into a formidable enemy and is soon on a much more dangerous mission than he had bargained for.
1. Prologue

Episode I

The Apprentice

Part 1

A Sith army

Prologue

The words came through the communication device, as clear as if they were being spoken right inside the room.

"Everything is ready, my Lord", they announced.

"Excellent", came the reply, sounding cold and hoarse, as though the one who said it had never really been designed for speech.

"When do you plan to start?"

"It will begin tomorrow, my Lord", said the first voice.

"Then, after a few days, people will begin to come. Soon we will have a fully operational army."

"Perfect." The second voice now. "Make sure nothing goes wrong."

The communicator went dead.


	2. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own the word Jedi, the characters Luke and Anakin Skywalker, or the planet Tatooine but I_ do_ own Daniel Fenn, so there! Plus, as regards the Prologue, It was not my idea to have a mysterious conversation held across air. It's just a cliché. Anyway… CHAPTER ONE

Daniel Fenn, aged fourteen, was lugging a heavy pack down a busy main road on the planet Tatooine, which had become a great tourist attraction since the time of the two legendary Jedi, Luke and Anakin Skywalker. He could still barely believe what had happened recently.

It had been a foul night, with great sandstorms making everybody glad of their houses or shelters, and Daniel had been unable to sleep. Around midnight, he had heard the crunch of feet against gravel. His parents had told him to stay in bed, and that they would take the lantern and blaster downstairs to see what was going on. He had heard them lighting matches and undoing safety catches, etc. Then they had opened the door, and with a bang, the blaster had fired. After that, he had heard a strange sizzling noise, a shattering window, and then silence.

Now Daniel was searching for the person who was responsible for his parents' murder. He was heading for a Jedi training institute on the outskirts that he had heard about. If he was going to track a murderer he would have to be prepared, and as this place offered the first six weeks' accommodation free of charge, he felt it was the best he could do.

* * *

The next day, Daniel arrived at a large building, with a sign above its polished mahogany double doors reading: _Galactic Jedi Training Fellowship._ Daniel paused for a moment on the threshold, then, summoning all his courage, knocked. It took a long time for anyone to come and answer, and Daniel was just wondering if he should leave, when suddenly the doors swung open to reveal a tall man dressed up to his chin in a strange looking set of armour, and holding a helmet. The way his grey head appeared to sit on top of the mustard yellow and black striped plating of his chest piece, he looked rather like an overgrown bumble bee. Maybe it was the way his dark, impersonal eyes seemed to see straight through your head into your brain, or the strange appearance his suit gave him, but something made Daniel instantly uneasy about this man.

'Welcome,' he said. His voice was soft, but throaty. 'I presume you have come for training?'

'Yes, sir...'

'You may address me as Lord Rymina', cut in the man. 'I am the head of this division of the Galactic Jedi Training Fellowship. You have come for...?'

'Six weeks' training,' said Daniel.

The man looked annoyed and began muttering to himself things like, 'Oh, no, not another one.' Then he seemed to change his mind and swung the doors open wider for Daniel to enter.

Over the next three weeks Daniel learnt the basics: controlling a lightsaber, levitating stones, and a few simple combat routines. It was only at the beginning of week four that anything strange happened.

It began on Tuesday. Daniel was in the dormitory with his friends Barak To (A red-faced alien with strange blue tentacles dangling in the place of his hair), and Jacob Valan (Another human, with blond hair and sharp, brown eyes). Barak To was just adding the finishing touches to one of his famous rants about how his surname was pronounced like _Toe_, not like _Too_.

"Anyway," he said. "My parents gave me a thing called a Training Orb as a goodbye present. They fire lasers which you have to block with your lightsaber."  
"That's interesting," replied Daniel, who was always ready to snap back to the present when conversation changed from name pronunciations.  
"I'll let you have a try with it, if you want," Barak said. He went over to his bag and took out a spherical object, smaller than a football but larger than an apple. It was a metallic grey and had what looked like a hundred tiny indents spattered across it.

"Each of the little holes is a laser port." He explained. "The idea is to use the force to guess which port it's going to fire from next, and use your lightsaber to block it. Apparently it works better if you're blindfolded, but personally I don't see how that could help."

Daniel took out the lightsaber which the Training institute had supplied for him. It was clearly second hand, and the blade had a tendency to flicker. He turned it on, and the sharp line of green light extending from the handle showed that it had responded.

Barak flicked a small switch in the Training Orb, and the latter zoomed into the air until it was hovering above Daniels' head. It moved around, circling him, and then suddenly let out three consecutive laser bolts. Daniel blocked the first two, but an unexpected jolt from the orb took him by surprise, and he missed the third one. It hit him in the stomach, giving him a low voltage electric shock.

"Are you OK?!" Jacob exclaimed, jumping up from his bed.  
"I'm fine" Daniel reassured him. "Just give me a moment..." The other two had a turn while Daniel recovered, and then the bell rang for bedtime.

* * *

Later that night, once everybody except him was asleep, Daniel turned over. He was thinking about the training orb, and the sound the laser bolt had made when it hit his weapon. He _knew _he had heard that sound somewhere before, and that it was important he should remember where. Turning again, Daniel managed to shake himself into a light sleep.


End file.
